Lyrics
Long before I learned how to tie my shoes
I learned that New Orleans was the home of the blues
How long ago one mornin' the sun in the city
The blues went rollin' and tumblin', y'all, up the Mississippi
Up through the Delta, up to Memphis, Tennessee
Wherever people struggled, y'all, struggled to be free
The blues is the music that fanned the flame
That burned in the soul, y'all, of Little Walter and Elmore James
The blues is a music, yeah, that anyone can feel
It comes from the cries of the people that work the cotton field
The blues grew out of pain but now it can heal
And the more I sing it, y'all, the better I feel
And nobody can give it away (Well)
Nobody can take it away (No, no, no)
Nobody can throw it away (Oh, no)
And it can't even pray it away (Yeah)
And the blues is a feelin' that will never die
And the blues is here to stay (Blues is here to stay, y'all)
Hey
What would this world be, y'all, without B.B. King?
Without Bobby "Blue" Bland doin' his thing?
Without T-Bone Walker and Howlin' Wolf?
Without Bessie and Big Mama struttin' their stuff? (Well, well)
Well
There'd be no Elvis, no Jerry Lee
A young Eric Clapton, y'all, woulda never crossed the sea
Without ol' Lightnin' Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters to go upon
Hey, the Beatles and the Stones, they'd have never left home
No, no, ah (Tell the truth, y'all)
Well, well, well
Tell the truth, y'all
The blues is the gospel of the common man
The story of a people in a hostile land
Built on a foundation that'll never fall
Thanks to Robert Cray, Stevie Ray, and Taj Mahal
Nobody can give it away
Nobody can take it away (Oh, no)
You can't even throw it away, y'all
They can't even pray it away
The blues is a feelin' that will never die (Never, never die)
And the blues is here to stay, yeah, yeah
Let the blues tell
Ah, hey
